Prospective, randomized, blinded evaluation of donor semen quality provided by seven commercial sperm banks.

Objective: To evaluate variability in donor semen quality between seven commercial donor sperm banks, within sperm banks, and between intracervical insemination and intrauterine insemination.

Design: Prospective, randomized, blind evaluation of commercially available donor semen samples.

Setting: An academic andrology laboratory.

Patient(s): Seventy-five cryopreserved donor semen samples were evaluated.

Intervention(s): Samples were coded, then blindly evaluated for semen quality.

Main Outcome Measure(s): Standard semen quality parameters, including concentration, motility parameters, World Health Organization criteria morphology, and strict criteria morphology.

Result(s): Significant differences were observed between donor semen banks for most semen quality parameters analyzed in intracervical insemination samples. In general, the greatest variability observed between banks was in percentage progressive sperm motility (range, 8.8 +/- 5.8 to 42.4 +/- 5.5) and normal sperm morphology (strict criteria; range, 10.1 +/- 3.3 to 26.6 +/- 4.7). Coefficients of variation within sperm banks were generally high.

Conclusion(s): These data demonstrate the variability of donor semen quality provided by commercial sperm banks, both between banks and within a given bank. No relationship was observed between the size or type of sperm bank and the degree of variability. The data demonstrate the lack of uniformity in the criteria used to screen potential semen donors and emphasize the need for more stringent screening criteria and strict quality control in processing samples.